Chapter 7 - The Most Evil of Teacher's

With 10 seconds to the bell Harry strolled into potions. He was the last of his housemates to arrive.

"So…Gryffindors on one side, and Slytherin on the other. Has it always been like this?"

"In our day, I think we sat further apart." said James.

"Of course."

Harry strode purposely to the centre of the room, tossed his book bag on an empty desk between a Parvati and a Slytherin girl who had dark hair and a pale face. No sooner had he sat down than the classroom door swung open and hit the wall with a bang. Professor Snape strode briskly into his classroom with his robes billowing behind him. The room immediately quieted.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic." he began in a low voice. "I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through the human veins, bewitching the minds, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Hermione looked eager to prove she wasn't a dunderhead, Harry noted.

"Well he sure is cheery."

"He sounds just like he did a dozen years ago" Lily said.

Professor Snape then began roll call. That was how Harry discovered Parvati's last name was Patil and that Pansy was to his right. He paused when he got to Harry's name.

"Ah, Harry Potter our new…celebrity." Some Slytherin's tittered. Harry narrowed his eyes.

"He wants to play like that does he?"

"Harry I forbid you from doing anything foolish." his mom said firmly.

"Present… sir." Harry replied coldly, using the same tone for the word sir, as Snape used for celebrity.

Professor Snape narrowed his eyes just slightly before continuing roll call.

"Potter!" Snape called out suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry looked taken aback. A quick glance told him that neither Parvati nor Pansy knew the answer. Hermione however had shot her hand into the air.

"Little help here?" he called into his mind.

"If you don't know the answer, Potter, the appropriate thing to do would be say, "I don't know, Professor. Let's try something else. Where would you look if I told you to look for a bezoar?"

Hermione's hand lifted higher into the air. Some Slytherin's were laughing at him, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle in particular.

"I don't know Professor."

"Tut, tut, clearly fame isn't everything. Tell me Potter what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Hermione was now almost out of her seat with her arm outstretched high.

"I don't-," but then Harry stopped speaking. He suddenly seemed to be staring off into space. His eyes shut briefly.

"Potter-," Snape began. But then Harry's eyes snapped open and were entirely focused on the professor.

"Adding the powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood will create a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the draught of living death. A bezoar can be found in the stomach of a goat and will save you from most poisons. Monkshood and Wolfsbane are the same plant, which also goes by the name of Aconite. But shouldn't you know this? You are the potions master after all."

The class suddenly went dead quiet and Harry heard a couple muffled gasps.

Professor Snape was so taken aback by his reply that he was silent for a moment.

"That is correct," he said tersely. And was quiet for another moment. "Well? Why aren't you all writing this down?" he said.

There was a flurry for activity as students reached for quills and parchment to write on.

"And 10 points from Gryffindor for your cheek, Potter."

Harry shrugged off the point loss. His father had had lost loads of points as a troublemaker, ten was no big deal. Professor Snape then divided them into pairs to make a boil cure potion. Harry ended up being paired with Parvati. They turned to face each other.

"Hi."

"Hi"

"Harry." he smiled, extending his hand

"Parvati." she answered and shook his hand. While she was of obvious Indian descent, you couldn't tell from her voice. She spoke clearly and boldly.

"Well.. one of us can get ingredients while the other one sets up the cauldron," Harry offered.

"Ok." She looked to the board, where the list of ingredients were.

"Maybe I can set up the cauldron?" she asked.

"Not a fan of slugs?" Harry grinned.

"Urrgh, definitely not." she shuddered.

"No problem. I'll grab them. And everything else."

"Thanks," she said gratefully.

"Such a ladies man."

"Stuff it, dad."

While the students started their potions, Professor Snape slowly paced around the classroom, breathing down the students necks. He seemed to be especially critical of the Gryffindor students work. The Slytherin's he gave small amounts of praise. However his favourite student seemed to be Malfoy.

"Class look at the way, Mr. Malfoy has perfectly chopped up his horned slugs." was one of the things Professor Snape praised him on.

Harry rolled his eyes and glanced around the room. Ron was paired with Dean, Hermione with some blond girl, Neville was with Seamus, Pansy with…

"HARRY! Get Neville away from that potion!"

Harry looked up just as Neville had just finished dropping some porcupine quills into his potion while the fire was still on. Without a moment to lose, Harry sprinted across the room and tackled Neville to the floor. A second later the potion melted through the cauldron and flooded the floor right where Neville had been standing a second earlier. Students shrieked and climbed onto their chairs as the potion flooded half the room and ate at people's shoes.

"Gah!" cried out Harry. He was still on the floor when the potion collapsed and the potion had reached him before he was able to get up. It ate at his hands and knees.

"Idiot boy!" Snape accosted Neville, who because of Harry's NFL worthy tackle, had been far enough away from the potion to not get burned by it. With a wave of his wand he vanished the contents of it from the dungeon floor.

"I suppose you forgot to take the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills?"

Snape glanced at Potter then turned back to Neville. "Take him to the hospital wing." he spat out, obviously referring to Harry.

As they walked out, Harry called out to a wide-eyed Parvati.

"Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it. Don't forget to take the cauldron off the fire before adding the porcupine quills," he added with a wink.

She looked at him incredulously. "I don't think I could forget now," she said with disbelief.

Harry grinned back at her and he and Neville walked out.

"I'm sorry Harry, it's all my fault. I'm such a squib sometimes." Neville was quite downcast.

Harry put an arm around him. "You're not a squib Neville. You just made a mistake, it happens to everyone.

"Yeah but they usually happen to me," he said gloomily. "You practically saved my life back there. I'm just no good at magic. Sometimes I wonder how I got into Hogwarts at all."

Harry stopped them and looked Neville in the eye.

"Look Neville. There are two types of people in this world. Do you know what they are?"

Neville thought for a moment. "Muggles and Wizards?" he asked.

"That is true, although it isn't what I was thinking of. The first type of people are the type of people that have everything come to them easily. Anything they want to learn or do, they hardly need to work at.

"The second kind are the people who do not find things they want to learn easy. They have to work much harder at what they want to do than others will.

"Ok," said Neville. "but what does this have to do with me being lousy at magic."

"Everything," said Harry. "You see, Neville when it comes to magic the second person will have to work harder to be as good as the first person. However as the years go by the course material will get harder. One day the first person will realize that they cannot easily do the magic like they once did. They too will have to study to keep up. However the second person will have been used to having to work hard. And this is where the second person will overtake the first person. For in the long run, only hard work can get you where you want to go."

Neville stood there and took in what Harry said and they continued walking.

"So… you're saying that I will need to work harder than the other students, and then one day, I'll be at least as good as they are?"

"Maybe even better." Harry smiled.

"Well I doubt I could ever be as good as you are." he said.

"You never know Neville. You never know."

They came upon the hospital wing doors. "Well it seems we've arrived. Thanks for the escort, Neville, you can head back now."

"Ok Harry." he turned to leave, "Oh and Harry, thanks for saving my life."

"Anytime Neville." he grinned and walked into the hospital wing.

—

Parvati was feeling a slight bit of frustration. Her potion, which was supposed to be turning red had deviated off course and had gone violet. It made her want to pull her hair out. They only had 5 minutes before Snape started collecting their potions.

"Try waving your wand like this," said a voice from behind her. Startled, she turned to look into a pair of green eyes.

"Harry!" she nearly shouted, but managed to turn it into a loud whisper. "Are you alright?" His hands were bandaged, but he still managed to hold his wand casually. He was waving it in a slow circular manner over the potion. Miraculously, it started turning a nice shade of red.

"I'm well, thanks for asking." he said.

"How did you do that?" she asked impressed.

"Colour changing charm," he replied seriously.

"What? Really? I thought the potion was supposed to turn red without any sort of charm." she stopped when she saw the mirth in his eyes. "You're having me on aren't you?!"

He chuckled. "Guilty as charged. Here," he said. "Hold your wand over top of the cauldron like this." He indicated with his own hand. She matched the position with hers. He then placed his hand overtop of hers. "Now you just move your hand in a circle, clock-wise, at about this speed." He moved their hands together around the cauldron at a steady speed. The potion started to turn a nice red. So did Parvati. She looked up at him.

'His eyes are so green,' she thought. At that moment Harry turned to her as if to say something but stopped when he saw her staring at him. They immediately looked away from each other blushing.

"Time's up!" called out Professor Snape. "If you managed to have brewed something that resembles this," he held up a perfectly brewed boil cure potion, "then bottle it, tag it and put it on my desk. Otherwise, don't bother."

Harry and Parvati quickly got to work, bottling their potion and labeling it. When they brought it up to Snape's desk they could see the class had varied success. Ron and Seamus' potion was such a dark red it could be mistaken for black. Pansy and her partner's was only slightly better being a mixture of violet, red and brown. Some, like Hermione's had done well, hers was a rich red though slightly darker than what Professor Snape's was. Professor Snape ignored her's though, in favour of Draco's, which was a reddish-orange colour.

"Ah, well done Mr. Malfoy. You obviously show an aptitude for potions."

Then Harry set his potion on the desk. For good effect he put it right down beside the sample Snape had shown. The two were practically identical. Snape stared at it, as though it's existence offended him

"What about me Professor?" he asked cheekily. "Do I show an aptitude for potions?"

A couple of the Gryffindor's looked like they were holding back laughter. Even Pansy looked like she was fighting a smile. A Slytherin at that!

Professor Snape spoke as though the words physically pained him.

"You seem to show some…ability." He gritted out.

"Wonderful." Harry replied, and made his way back to his seat.

The bell rang and suddenly students were packing up their book bags as fast they could and putting their potions ingredients away.

"Well it was fun working with you Parvati," said Harry. "See you around."

"Thanks Harry. See you around."

—

It was next week when the flyer was pinned up to the notice board in the Gryffindor Common room. It said, that Flying Lessons would be taking place that Thursday at 3:30, with the Slytherins. Ron was rather put out that they would be taking lessons with Slytherin. Harry found he didn't mind.

As the day drew closer to the flying lessons, the talk turned to who had been on a broom, who was likely to play for a house team and Quidditch. Malfoy was boasting about how he had narrowly missed muggle helicopters on a broom and Ron would tell anyone who was listening how he had nearly hit a hang glider or two. Harry would have bet his vault though that neither of them had been farther than a hundred feet above the ground, much less thousands.

Many students seemed to be nervous about flying. None more so though than Hermione who was annoying students by reading them all flying tips from a book called 'Quidditch through the Ages." Flying wasn't something you could learn from a book and this was causing her much stress.

Finally the day arrived and the students made their way outside to a large section of flat grass. Neatly lying on the ground in two rows opposite each other was the school broomsticks.

"Everyone find a broomstick and stand beside it." Madam Hooch the flying instructor was already outside and waiting for them. The Gryffindors headed for the brooms on one side and the Slytherins the other.

"Very good, now everyone hold your hand above your broom and say, up."

"UP."

Harry's broom shot to his hand, but it was one of the few that did. Some brooms rose half heartedly and some not at all. Neville's broom rolled over. Hermione's didn't twitch.

"If your broom hasn't risen to your hand yet, repeat saying up until it does." Madam Hooch said.

Cries of up, echoed around the lawn. Hermione's broom was slowly making it's way to her hand now, though Harry thought she might explode with impatience before it did. He wondered if brooms could obey other verbal commands.

"Down." The broom shot to the ground. "Up." It came back up again.

"Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Do-" he stopped when he realized everyone had stopped and was staring at him.

"What?"

"Well done Mr. Potter," exclaimed Madam Hooch. "Now please be patient while the other students get acquainted. Not all of us have been on a broom before." She turned back to help the remaining students.

"Wait. She thinks…We.. I mean I…I've never been on a broom before!"

"Gee I wonder why she thinks that." James voice came in amused.

"Well done Harry, not even James could pull that off in his first lesson." said his mum.

"Maybe I could have…if I thought of it."

"Well, you were quite a natural on a broomstick…"

Hermione had just gotten her broomstick to her hand.

"Finally." she muttered. She looked to Harry, half expecting him to be watching her with that amused smile of him, followed with some advice that he always seemed to have. Her eyes narrowed, when she realized that not only was he not watching her, he wasn't watching well..anything. He seemed to be staring into a place a thousand miles away. His face was blank and he didn't seem to be reacting to his classmates.

"Now that everyone's got their brooms you can mount them, like so," she said and demonstrated by mounting an old Cleansweep broomstick herself. Hermione threw a leg over her broom and so did everyone else…except Harry. Madam Hooch began working her way down the Gryffindor line of students correcting students hand grip and making sure they were seated properly.

"Harry." Hermione whispered. He was next to her but didn't seem to hear her.

"Harry!" she whispered again, though sharper and louder. He blinked and and seemed to come to. He turned to her and then seemed to notice that he was the only one not on a broom.

"Right, sorry." he muttered and threw a leg over his broom.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah, just kind of..spaced out, I guess." he smiled at her and turned away.

"Something is definitely up with him." she thought.

Madam Hooch, who had so far corrected everybody on their broomstick posture, stopped when she got to Harry.

"Perfect grip, Mr. Potter. Ms. Granger straighten your back a little more.. that's it" and she moved down the line.

"Is there anything you don't know how to do?" Hermione asked, half amused, half annoyed.

He paused for a moment as if he was actually considering an answer, then looked back at her.

"I've never learned how to play the banjo." he said seriously.

She looked at him in disbelief. "Anything else?" she asked, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

"Not that I know of."

Madam Hooch had finished checking everyone's broom. "Alright, now when I count to three I want you to push off the ground and hover. Then point the broom down and touch down again. Alright? One, Two… I said when I get to Three!"

Neville it seemed, had been worried about being left behind and had pushed off earlier and a little too hard. His broom went soaring into the air and was doing very good impression of a balloon that had a leak.

"Come back down!" shouted Madam Hooch. It was obvious though that Neville was holding on for dear life. The broom went spinning side to side and then he got too close to the castle and started smacking against the brick.

Harry could see Neville's grip was starting to loosen and any second now he would fall. Without realizing what he was doing, he kicked off from the ground and took off towards Neville.

"Mr. Potter-" was all he heard before he was out of earshot. It was then that Neville slipped off his broom at fifty feet up. Harry's eyes widened before narrowing in concentration and he leaned forward urging the broom even faster and aimed it down to where Neville would land. He was closing in on his friend, but so was the ground. He leaned forward and reached out a hand, turning the broom so that he was flying at a ninety degree angle. Mere feet from the ground he grabbed a hold of Neville's midsection and spun so that he was underneath Neville facing up. That is how they crashed into the ground, with Harry taking the brunt of the fall and shielding Neville with his body. Harry paused to let what he did catch up with him and then let his head fall back on to the ground and took a breath. "Made it." he thought.

"Everyone stand back!" he heard a shrill voice say. Madam Hooch came running over terrified. "Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Potter, are you alright?!"

Neville rolled off of Harry and slowly started to stand. He looked dazed.

"I'm ok." he mumbled, shaken. "What happened?" He looked back down to see Harry laying on the ground, eyes closed.

"OH Merlin. Oh no, Harry! Please be ok. Harry? Harry?! Oh no I've killed him." Neville was panicking.

"I'm not dead." Harry opened his eyes and slowly stood up, first on one foot, then on the other. "See?"

"Oh thank Merlin." Neville breathed a sigh of relief.

Harry looked down at his uniform. His robes, hair and face were covered in dirt and grass.

"Well this robe is toast." he muttered. "That's two robes in two weeks."

"At this rate we'll be going to Madam Malkin's once a month," James chuckled.

"Mr. Potter are you alright?" Madam Hooch asked again.

"Yeah I'm good."

"Would you like to sit out for a moment?" she asked both of them, "You can rejoin the group when you feel ready?" she offered.

"Umm I could sit out," said Neville. He still looked shaken up.

"You can join us whenever you are ready Mr. Longbottom. Mr. Potter?"

"I'll join the others," said Harry. "Make sure sure nobody else needs saving," he joked, although with Neville's new death experience it fell a little flat.

"If you are sure. Oh and take 30 points to Gryffindor, for quick thinking and putting another student's safety before your own," she added with a smile.

"Thank you Professor." he said, humbled.

Madam Hooch walked briskly back to the students that were gathered only feet behind her and she directed them back to the training area.

"You alright, Neville?" Harry asked.

He nodded. "I was terrified. I don't think I want to go near another broom in my life."

"I don't blame you," said Harry. "But maybe you should give it another shot. You don't want Malfoy to think you're scared right?" Neville eyes darkened at that and he looked determined.

"Exactly. Shall we go back?"

He nodded. "Good." And they made their way across the lawn.

The other students had started hovering and moving forward a little bit. Madam Hooch saw them coming.

"Back so soon?"

"We are ready to go again Professor."

"Then pick up your brooms and mount them when ready." she said.

Harry and Neville nodded and walked to their brooms. "Madam Hooch must have brought them back." Harry thought.

Neville took a deep breath before, climbing onto his, and Harry did the same.

"Now," Harry said. "I want you to think about what happened last time. What do you think went wrong?"

"I'm not really sure." he answered. "I was actually worried I was going to be left behind when we kicked off and I was really nervous and well.. yeah."

"Remember Neville, you are the wizard. The broom is just a broom. It may be a magical object but you decide where it goes and where it doesn't go. Understand? You are the master of this broom."

"Ok" Neville said, a little unsure of Harry's way of looking at it.

"Good. Now kick off the ground and go where you want to go."

Slowly Neville pushed himself off the ground and he was hovering in the air.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. He started to move forward. "Hey I'm doing it!" And a grin cracked open on his face.

For a short while that afternoon Harry worked with Neville until he was sure he was comfortable on his own. Some of the students were clearly comfortable on their brooms and had started a game of tag. Harry ignored those and went around to help some of those that seemed to be struggling.

"How's it going Hermione?"

Harry had flown down in front of her (she was only 5 feet off the ground) and was looking quite comfortable. He wasn't even bothering to hold onto the broom with his hands and was letting them sit on his knees.

"I'm- I'm just fine." she answered a little shakily. If Harry had less moral fibre he might have laughed. Hermione was lying prone on the broom and her knuckles were white. As it is he merely smiled. "Would you like a hand?"

She paused, her pride not wanting her to accept help, but her determination to excel at all of her school subjects, even non-academic ones, making her want to accept.

"Yes." she whispered quietly.

Harry tried the same techniques that he used to help others, but it didn't seem to be working with Hermione. Her fear of flying was holding her back. He needed something to distract her.

"So, Hermione, how do you like Hogwarts so far?"

"It's brilliant." she said shakily. "Finding out I was a witch was the best day of my life. It finally explained what was happening around me." And she smiled.

"What was happening around you?" he asked puzzled.

"Oh you know," she prodded as though it was obvious. "The accidental magic? One time when I was little, I was reading a book at night. My mom took the book away from me because I was supposed to go to sleep. But I was almost finished and I really wanted to finished that book. When she left the room I was really wanting that book and it just.. flew back to me. All the way from my parents room." She looked a little sheepish.

"Wow." said Harry.

"What about you?" she asked, "What accidental magic did Harry Potter do when he was younger?"

"Uhh none." he said looking a little lost.

"…what do you mean none?" she asked in disbelief. "Are you telling me you never did magic before coming to Hogwarts?"

"Oh no, I definitely did magic before Hogwarts," he replied. "It just…"

"What?"

"Well it wasn't accidental." he muttered.

Her eyes widened at the implications of what he just said.

"What do you mean it wasn't accidental?" she hissed.

Harry was saved from answering however, from a whistle from Madam Hooch.

"Alright everyone, lessons are over now, please put your brooms back on the ground where they were and make your way back to your dormitories. Come now, no dilly-dallying."

"Hey look Hermione, you're flying a lot smoother now."

"What?" she looked down to see she was a lot higher than she had been before and she was no longer clutching the broom like a life line. "Wow, I am."

"Last one down is a rotten egg," he teased. And he began flying backwards away from her towards the ground.

"Showoff," she thought, but started racing after him just the same.

They touched down at nearly the same time (Harry obviously wasn't going near full speed) and put the brooms back on the ground.

She was about to ask him what he meant about doing magic that wasn't accidental, but was interrupted by Ron.

"Harry that was brilliant wasn't it? You should have joined us for that game of Chaser."

"Maybe next time Ron," Harry said walking up to the castle. Many students were giving him a nod and being quite friendly with him.

"Hey Harry."

"Thanks for the advice, Harry"

"Harry mate, couldn't have flown like that without you!"

He was even slightly liked in Slytherin and that was hard to do.

"Potter." a voice called out from Slytherin. He turned to see two of the girls walking to him.

He stopped, as did a few of his Gryffindor friends. Hermione stopped and waited too.

"Yes, Ms. Greengrass?" he asked pleasantly. "Hello Ms. Davis. And you may call me Harry."

They seemed surprised that he knew their names.

"Then you may call me Daphne." the blond hair girl said.

"And call me Tracey." said the brunette.

"Well then Daphne and Tracey. What can I do for you?"

"I just want to thank you for your help on the broomstick," Daphne, and Tracey nodded.

"Tracey has been trying to help me forever with no success, but five minutes with you and I'm flying like a natural."

"Your welcome," he said. "I'm glad I was able to help."

"If you want," Daphne said, "I would like to help you in a subject," she offered.

"Hmm alright. How does Potions sound?"

She stared at him. "What on earth would you need help in potions for?" she said bewildered.

"Does that mean you won't help me?" he said, looking down.

"Oh no, of course not!" she backtracked. "I just thought..nevermind, Harry I would be happy to help with potions."

"Splendid. We can pair up next class then?" he asked with a smile

"Absolutely." she smiled back. "Well.. we got to get back to our common room. Bye Harry."

"See you later."

They split off their separate ways and Hermione was left probably feeling as confused as Daphne was. If anything Harry would be teaching Daphne in potions rather than the other way around. "But then," she thought, "Maybe that's what he wanted. But why would he?" She decided that she was going keep an eye on Harry Potter from now on. She just had this feeling, that there was something more to him than met the eye. And she would find out what.